Two Femmes and a Mech
by Prime627
Summary: Surprise! That's what someone should have shouted to Prime when his former mate Airachnid landed on Earth. But he's with Arcee now, and Airachnid seems pretty much determined to tear them apart. Oh, and Bumblebee and Bulkhead have entered a wager on who he picks in the end. This is gonna be good.
1. Chapter 1

_Airachnid gave the Insecticon she was caring for a fond pat on the helm, pushing his face away when he went to lick her cheek as a thank you. She smiled at the door as it opened. She knew who it was, and she wasn't disappointed._

_ "You are a precious sight when you are taking care of the things that you adore. How is the little one today?"_

_ Airachnid lifted the injured paw. It had one claw left after whatever it had gotten into a fight with had completely mauled it by the time Airachnid and her mate arrived on the scene. The only thing left to heal was his paw. "He will be walking by himself in a few days if all goes well."_

_ "Excellent. Then I can sleep in my own berth without having to cuddle with an Insecticon."_

_ "Oh, you love it." She waved him off as she smiled. She was enjoying this. "Don't you love cuddling up to Daddy?"_

_ The Insecticon squealed and nuzzled both of them happily. Airachnid smiled and pushed the helm away from hers so she could look at her mate._

_ "See?"_

_ The red and blue mech touched her cheek as he smiled and he drew her into a kiss. "I do..."_

Airachnid squeezed her optics shut, whining loudly as she remembered her mate. Did he still love her like that? Was he even alive? Megatron had vowed to rip out his spark and eat it, but the mech was known for empty threats.

She climbed into a Decepticon escape pod and she targetted the planet the last message she had received from her former mate had come from. To her surprise, the pod was fully functional. Also to her surprise, she was knocked into stasis.

At her age, she should have known to check if the pod was a long-distance or a navigator.

To her, it was five minutes before she woke up again, but in reality, she had been travelling for years. She had crash landed on the planet she had targetted.

She climbed out of her ship and she saw a group of Autobots watching her, their arms crossed. She flinched when she saw her rival, the only other femme alive that they knew of. Then her optics found her mate's, but the way he looked away broke her spark, and she corrected herself.

Ex-mate.

"Airachnid, I see you have come to Earth..."

"In response to your call, my love..." She walked to him, growling lowly at the blue femme who gave her the same greeting.

"Enough, Arcee." He addressed Airachnid next. "I did not call you. I called Autobots." He pointed at the insignia on her chest. "And you are not one of us."

Her optics narrowed and she growled. Where was the merciful mech she knew? "So? Bots can change."

"Not you. I witnessed what had happened to you. You are incapable of change, incapable of love, incapable of-"

She interrupted him. "Just give me a chance! I'll prove you and your little mate wrong."

He glanced down at Arcee and he moved to stand between them. So Airachnid was right. She hissed up at him.

"Didn't take you long to decide you didn't love me anymore."

"I thought you were dead."

"You were wrong, and you continue to be. You can't just send me back to Megatron. I'm not going back."

One of the warriors, the biggest one, sighed and rubbed his helm. "Sir, she's not gonna budge."

"I know. Very well, Airachnid. One chance to prove that you are capable of change. If you disappoint me, or if I get reports of you misbehaving, I will have no choice but to hand you back over to your master. Do you understand?"

Airachnid grinned up at the mech. "Fully, my dear Optimus Prime."

"Aye," the Prime muttered, and he led his former mate and his current mate through the GroundBridge.

Two femmes. One mech.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead entered a bet on who Prime would end up with.

Would Bumblebee be right? Would Optimus refuse to budge from his current mate?

Or was Bulkhead going to win when (if) Optimus falls back in love with the femme he once knew?


	2. Chapter 2

Airachnid looked around her new quarters. It was simple. One berth, one desk, one chair, one "closet" (which was a small area with a door where she could store her personal belongings, of which she had next to zero of). She looked back at her guide, Prime's mate. She smirked at her rival, but she did a scan of her. The blue femme had been in the berth with the Prime. Repeatedly. She growled.

Arcee set the flat pillow and thin blanket on the sheeted berth. "This is all we have left, but Optimus has sent the humans out to get more of everything. And just so you are aware, I'm not on Optimus' side. No bot gets a second chance. You only get one, and if you mess it up, too bad, so sad."

Airachnid sat down on the berth. "Which is why the Matrix did not sing for you as it sang for Optimus."

The blue femme smiled at her, and not in a kind way. "If it had, I would have shot you the instant I saw your helm poking up through the pod."

"And I would have returned fire," she growled.

The femmes stared at each other for a long moment before Bulkhead interrupted them. He led Ratchet in through the door.

"Optimus wants Ratch' to examine her, and it looks like we came at a good time. Now Ratchy won't have to sweep up the pieces."

The medic pushed Arcee aside, which wasn't too unusual. But he was gentle on Airachnid, noting her every wince, even if it was fake. She growled lowly. Some medics seemed to be loyal on both sides. Her growl was cut off when Ratchet looked back at her and she ducked her helm.

His voice came through her processor. _I am loyal to the Autobots, but it is my duty as a medic to heal all the hurt a Cybertronian carries. If I did not do so, I would be failing my mentor, my peers, and my duty to the Cybertronian society._ He had told her that when he fixed Starscream up and sent him on his way with a cube of Energon.

Optimus stood in the doorway, overseeing it. The only one that was missing in this cheery party was Bumblebee, but Arcee knew better than to assume the scout was just wandering around. He was probably guarding the exit as the last line of defense if things got ugly.

Ratchet stood up. "She will recover soon. The stasis lock's effects will wear off. I do not think we need to give her more than three Energon cubes a day."

Optimus nodded and dismissed his friend. Then he moved to Ratchet's former position as he examined her himself. This time, Airachnid did not wince or squirm or whine. She stared into Optimus' optics. And he stared back.

Three minutes later, Arcee broke it up with an angry snarl.

Bulkhead held her back on Optimus' command.

"You have been through a lot," he murmured. He stood up and let her take his servo. He squeezed her digits gently, then shook her servo off. "But you are still in a precarious position. Do your best not to fall off."

Airachnid nodded and she pulled her knees to her chest.

Arcee was the last to leave, and she gave her a dirty look as she shut the door. Then she tracked down Optimus and spun him around. Though she was smaller, and left a smaller footprint than everyone else (figuratively and literally), she held a high position in the ranks. "What was that about?"

The Prime stared down at her for a moment, then he looked up at the ceiling and sighed like he did whenever he was about to launch into a story or give a long answer.

"When Airachnid and I were separated in the effort to leave Cybertron, the last thing I saw was of her being trampled and Shockwave finding her. Airachnid was not a triple-changer, or a fierce warrior before Shockwave found her that day. She was a medic of sorts, and she was called Airachnid because that was what her mother called her. But after Shockwave's experiments, she became Airachnid, and she had received extra legs due to her name...I watched some of those experiments. He fed the videos to me, to taunt me, to bring me back to Cybertron, but after he said that she had not made it, I found no use in returning to my mate. She was gone, after all, and I would have gone with her if I had turned around and chased Shockwave down."

Arcee frowned at her mate. "But do you still love her?"

He stared down at her. "You of all Cybertronians should know that love never dies."

He said nothing more. He held open his door for her, and Arcee reluctantly padded in.


	3. Chapter 3

Optimus sat at his desk, writing in his own Covenant. While he was a data-clerk in the Hall of Records under the great Archivist Alpha Trion, he had seen the older bot scribbling in a massive book called the Covenant. It told the past, present, and future. It was the journal of the world.

Now Optimus had settled into a habit of writing about his past, his present, and a little bit about the future. Right now, he did not like the last bit.

As he finished writing the last word, the door swung open and he looked up to see Airachnid in the doorway.

"In this base, you will learn an ancient art that will allow you to enter any room," Optimus said without looking up. "It is called knocking."

"Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt you writing in your diary, but I came to report abuse."

Now Optimus looked up. There were bruises on her arms. And from the tiny servo-prints, he could only guess that his mate had delivered them. "What did you do?"

"What did _I_ do?"

Optimus nodded as he closed the little notebook and he tucked his pencil under it so it wouldn't run away from him. "Arcee does not attack unless provoked. I want to know what you did to provoke her, and do tell the truth, because I will ask her myself later."

Airachnid growled. "I was bathing."

"Ah. That is very offensive around here. Are you not aware?"

She snorted at him. "Clearly. But I was bathing, and I turned around, and Arcee was staring at me and she said that since I killed Tailgate, she should return the favor."

Optimus nodded as he covered his mouth. He knew how sensitive Arcee would be, and though he coul dhave avoided this entire mess by telling Airachnid to hit the road, he couldn't let the chance of helping Arcee heal pass by. "Yes, she is very sensitive. Tailgate was her mate."

Airachnid continued speaking. "She rushed me, so I blocked her blows, but when I stopped because she seemed out of breath, she attacked me and didn't hold back. Bulkhead separated us and told me to go to you."

Sounded like a Bulkhead-thing to do. He huffed as he stood. "Let us see what Arcee looks like, shall we?" He led the femme to the wash racks and was surprised to see Bulkhead scolding Arcee. While Airachnid was bruised, Arcee wasn't. She was panting, and her knuckles showed signs of use (probably from punching Airachnid, but Optimus wanted to be certain before he punished his mate for being wild and not-Autobot-like).

"What happened here, Bulkhead?"

The former Wrecker looked at him. "Seems Arcee here got a little tension built up and took it out on Airachnid while she was showering."

Optimus gave his mate a disapproving look and he motioned for the femmes to follow him out into the hall. He was all for humility. He learned it from Alpha Trion, who had the data-clerks shower. Together. Every day after their shift was over. He had said that if it was up to him, every place would have a shower. He wanted the rest of the team to hear what he had to say to them in case they had any ideas.

"I am disappointed in you both. Arcee, you engaged in an unprovoked fight. You need to let go of the past and look to the future. You cannot drag the past into the future, or it will consume your light and it will leave you as an empty husk. And you, Airachnid..." He turned his gaze on the femme that didn't back down. Ever. Not even when he was a data-clerk and she was a healer who was mocked and humiliated every day.

"Yes?"

"I am moving your quarters. You will have mine. It has a private shower stall. It is sound-proofed and isolated from everyone else. And it is close to my office. Arcee, we will move back into your quarters."

The blue femme growled. "I understand."

"Good. Now, then. It is time we put our goals together and make it a goal for the team. We are a unit. Remember?"

Both femmes nodded, but the way they glared at each other told Optimus they didn't care so long as the other was within six galaxies of them.

The Prime sighed and walked away, leaving them to storm off in separate directions.


	4. Chapter 4

The thing with Cybertronian couples, was when the relationship started to decline, they knew exactly what the cause was. Optimus and Arcee hadn't touched each other since Airachnid arrived.

So now the Prime and his second were bathing each other, the Prime kissing at her neck and audio while she purred and washed his armor. The water spiralled black down the drain.

"I missed this," she whispered as she turned around and raised her arms. While Optimus focused his attention on washing her belly and hips, she reached back and wrapped her arms around his neck so she could lean back.

"Touching is a vital part of relationships," he said as his servos went over her chestplates. She shivered in delight, but they weren't ready to climb into the berth just yet.

Arcee turned off the water and she patted her mate dry as he did the same to her. Optimus closed his optics as he slowly moved to his knees. He wrapped his arms around her smaller body and he pressed his face into her belly.

She flinched.

It was a sensitive part of any being. You did not want to open up your belly to anyone or anything, so to be able to surrender yourself, to show your belly to a possible enemy was a sign of respect and trust.

Optimus pulled away from her. He felt better, but not great. He would never feel great, he thought, and he stroked his purring mate's cheek. "I will be in my office if you need me. Go take a nap if you wish. There will be no patrol for you today unless you request it." He couldn't have Airachnid and Arcee cross paths today. He didn't want the stress.

The mates went their separate ways, Arcee to the main room and Optimus to his office.

But surprise surprise, Airachnid as waiting for him.

"Airachnid?" Optimus frowned.

She hopped off his desk. "Hello, Prime..." She stroked her digits over his chest, which made him curl his lip over his denta in a warning. "I came to apologize for my behavior."

"You should take that apology to Arcee. I am not offended."

"But I know you are. You like to hide it, but I know you are offended." She stood on her tip-toes and she planted a kiss on his cheek.

Optimus shook her off and he sat down in his chair as if nothing had happened. "Now I am offended. You leave me for eons, then come back and act like I did not move on."

Airachnid pouted. "I know you still love me..."

"Well, I apologize if I am leading you on, but if you have not noticed, Arcee and I are a couple now, and we will be until one of our sparks shorts out permenantly."

The purple femme's talons clicked together at the last worked and Optimus regretted his word choice.

"My dear, dear Prime..." She came around to his desk and she leaned over it, pushing her lower lip out in a pout as her optics dimmed.

Optimus anticipated a kiss and his battle mask slid over his mouth, but he was jumping to conclusions. He had just given Airachnid the satisfaction of making him squirm. He cursed internally.

"You of all bots should know that love never dies," she cooed and she stroked his mask with her digits. She watched his optics dim and roll back in his helm and she knew she found a sensitive spot on him. She stood straight just as the door opened and she dropped a report in his lap. Optimus glanced over at Bulkhead, who watched silently.

"Thank you for your report, Airachnid...you are dismissed."

She shoved past Bulkhead and walked down the halls to the RecRoom.

The former Wrecker looked at him. "What was that about?"

Optimus retracted his battle mask and he growled lowly. "I have never been so popular," he said as he stood. "Perhaps taking Airachnid into the team was a bad idea?"

Bulkhead snorted. "And ruin your streak of allowing anyone into the ranks? Come on, Prime. You said it yourself. Everyone has the capability of change. Why go back on it now, especially since you've been right so far?"  
Optimus stood with the warrior. It was good to vent, he found. It hurt to bottle it all up inside. To give voice to his feelings...he liked the feeling. And Bulkhead wasn't in search of gossip. He knew that the Wrecker would be silent.

"I feel as if something will happen...something that will drive me and Arcee apart."

Bulkhead shrugged. "You have a difficult choice, Prime. Do you go with your new love, or the femme you loved as Orion Pax?"

He looked at him silently, then he nodded a bit. "You are very wise, Bulkhead."

"Yeah, don't expect much more wisdom to me, sir."

The Prime had to smile now. "I will keep that in mind."


	5. Chapter 5

Optimus was tired. He was tired of being the topic of war between two femmes. It was obvious (or should be) who he loved with all his spark. He didn't understand why Arcee would wail to him about him not loving her, or why Airachnid would try to wedge herself between him and Arcee.

He was nothing special, not truly. Any special trait he had, he owed it all to the Matrix of Leadership that thrummed happily in his chest. He gave his chest a foul look. _The Matrix was never fought over by a couple of rabid femmes!_

Rabid mechs, on the other servo...

At that moment, Bulkhead graced him with his presence.

"Sir, Arcee and Airachnid are-"

He stood up, expecting a fight, so he practically dribbled transmission fluid when Bulkhead continued.

"-on patrol. Together. And it is going well."

Optimus raised an optic ridge at him. Then he checked his internal calendar. No, it was not the first of April...all was well. Or, it was supposed to be. Airachnid? And Arcee? His Arcee? Were they functioning correctly?

Bulkhead nodded when he voiced the last question. "Ratchet checked them out when they said they wanted to patrol together."

Optimus nodded and he slowly walked into the main room, which only had Bumblebee and Ratchet, but they were talking back and forth about the latest development of Arcee and Airachnid.

"I cannot believe it...Arcee and Airachnid are working together?"

Ratchet nodded at Optimus' question. "They're playing nice so far."

He rubbed his helm, and he dared to smile. "I cannot believe this..."

"There must be a reason," Bulkhead said as he crossed his arms.

They didn't have to wait long to see the femmes because they walked in and purred a greeting, which might have been normal. Except their arms were wrapped around each other as if they were sisters.

"Everyone, I'd like you to officially meet someone from my past," Arcee began as she purred. She looked over at Airachnid and she pushed at her shoulder. "You tell them."

"No, you tell them."

Optimus stared at them in surprise. The little tomboy he had grown to love was acting like a sparkling. What was going on?

Arcee and Airachnid gave up their bickering and they looked at the team. Arcee spoke first. "Airachnid and I are knitting our old ties back together."

Bulkhead raised an optic ridge while Optimus frowned as they giggled.

Airachnid finished for Arcee, launching into a story. "Long ago, before the war of Cybertron, a mech and a femme fell in love and they gave birth to a femme, who was kidnapped away from them by a scientist. They never saw her again."

Arcee piped up. "Then they tried again, and they had another femme, and they kept this one safe from the scientist."

Optimus had a servo in front of him, his index digit moving between the two femmes as he frowned in concentration. Two femmes...one went missing...scientist...

"Stop keeping us in suspense!"

Arcee hugged Airachnid. "This is my older sister, formerly known as Aleta-One."

The mechs in the room stared in shock, then their optics dimmed, rolled back into their helms, and they fell backwards.

The base rattled when Optimus fell.

Airachnid smiled.

Arcee giggled.


	6. Chapter 6

When Optimus came around, Arcee was laying beside him and Airachnid was tending to Ratchet. He stared at her. "Sisters?"

"Yes. My sire and carrier created Aleta-One first, but when she was kidnapped away from them by Shockwave and turned into Airachnid, they created me as a replacement, but I wasn't enough..." She sighed softly as she sat up. "My sire was a mech named Springforth and my carrier was a femme named Thunderblade, and they were killed in the war. Shockwave tapped into Aleta's coding and used her to kill 'bots, including our carrier and sire."

Optimus nodded and he pulled her close as he sighed. He could barely remember his carrier, Stormchaser, and he knew his sire was Primus himself, but he didn't lose Stormchaser, not like Arcee and Airachnid...Aleta...lost their carrier and sire. Stormchaser succumbed to wounds. Thunderblade and Springforth were killed by the daughter they once knew.

Aleta glanced over at them, smiling slightly. She still wanted Optimus, and now he knew why.

If Airachnid was Aleta-1, then she was his femme when he was Orion Pax and she was Ariel. It made since eventually in his helm.

Ariel was wounded, she was reborn as Aleta-1, and they fell in love again. Then Ariel was turned into Airachnid due to Shockwave, which meant that Ariel had been cared for by the mad scientist for some time before he changed her...which explained why he had never been to her house...so when he met Airachnid, it was no wonder that they fell in love...and he admitted that he was still drawn to her. He had Clicked with her, but then he had Clicked with Arcee. How? Because they were related, and had nearly the same spark-signatures...they were interchangable to his spark.

He sighed. The choice weighed heavily on his processor and on his spark. He wanted his Arcee, his beloved Arcee, but he also wanted his beloved first love, his lovely Ariel.

He hugged Arcee close and kissed her audio.

"I need time to think...I will be in my office. I need to figure out who will be my mate, either you or your sister... I will call the femme I choose in when I have reached my decision."

Then he got up and left the room, his servo over his mouth as he pulled at his upper lip.

OoO

Optimus called the femme in, purring when he saw her in the doorway. "Come in," he said as he moved the datapad he was working on aside. "I have reached my decision."

"Have you?" The femme sat down and crossed her legs. She was trembling with excitement as she watched him. Optimus could barely keep his trembling to himself.

"I have, and I have chosen you."

"Oh, Optimus..."

Optimus leaned over the desk and gave her a kiss, then he took her servos into his as he pulled her closer. He needed more of her, needed her against him. It was as if he needed her like he needed Energon. Without her, he would die.

"I love you, my dearest..."

"What about A-"

"Shhh...It's just you and me, now..." He scooped the littler femme up and carried her to the showers. He bathed her gently, hungry for the same physical contact. She did not disappoint and soon they were kissing, whining and whimpering for the other.

When they finally pulled away, Optimus' lips hurt and he knew that hers were the same way. He smiled and drew his battle mask over his mouth to hide it.

"Oh, don't hide that smile from me. You used to smile all the time before you got that thing..." She tapped at his chest, referring to the Matrix.

He nodded and he lifted her. "I should smile more, yes?"

"Indeed." She smiled up at him. When he laid her down in the sheets of his berth, their berth, she squirmed like a sparkling and purred loudly up at him.

Optimus laid beside her and he held her against his chest.

"I love you, Arcee."

"I love you, too, Optimus."


End file.
